Friday, August 16, 2013

God or Man Centered?

I think there's something to it. . . . And it reminds me of pro-Rome apologists I've heard in debate with Reformed proponents. The Romist says, "Yes, the Word of God is important . . . but it is not the final authority." The Catechism says, “Both Scripture and Tradition must be accepted and honored with equal sentiments of devotion and reverence.” However, the church and tradition, in practice take precedence.

I had an unsettled, disturbed feeling when I've heard the Papist arguing against the Bible as being wholly sufficient. Scripture alone is not adequate to reveal God's directives--we need (fallible) man to interpret and add what is ultimately necessary for salvation. . . .

Likewise, I get the same sense when I hear someone arguing against God's sovereignty being absolutely supreme when they say that man's "free will" is the final determinate.

I think to myself: If I have a choice between God's will versus man's will as being the final authority, every time I am going to side with God!

Do we have a God whose ultimate decrees are utterly, absolutely fulfilled? Or do we have a God who wishes, pines, hopes that His will is achieved, but it rests in man whether this is so? As in, God WANTS that everybody be saved, but only a few will be, because the ultimate decision (power) lies in man; or, is God a perfect Savior who saves every single soul He chooses to and NONE are lost that He wants for Himself?

If scripture is unclear and there seems to be evidence for both views, I am going to fall on the side of God's sovereignty every time!

But actually scripture is not unclear and I find that those who fight for supremacy of man's will above God's have simply not taken the time nor made the effort to search the thing out. They go by their own light in the matter, rather than let the Word say what it does.

"I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things." Isaiah 45:7

So, let's consider the "free will" advocate who claims to love God and be saved. Why did he get saved and another one didn't? He would have to say (though he won't) that he chose God . . . because he is just a bit more spiritual than the one who didn't. I mean, really . . . if it is up to man to chose God rather than the other way around, how can it be avoided that the one choosing God doesn't have some cause to boast?

If we look even just a little bit harder, there can NEVER be a reason to boast. Your intellect, your emotional proclivities, your gifts and opportunities . . . come from things like . . . who your parents were . . . and the genetic make-up THEY provided you . . . and you happened to be born into a certain place and time . . . and certain events transpired (over which you have no control) to bring you to a place where you (supposedly) decided to choose God.

But look at all of the things that went together there over which you had no control, no say-so. The kind of brain, the type of heart, the stamina of the body--ALL are inherited from others and work to give you your various talents, opportunities, inclinations etc. You can claim credit for none of it! [Unless, like Joseph Smith, who hated Reformed Christianity, you invent the notion of a pre-existence, where, because of your worthiness there . . . you are born into such and such favorable circumstances, ie., NOT black where those who were "fence-sitters" and "lazy" are born colored as a demerit.]

The idea that anyone . . . in and of themselves . . . has a greater ability to be "good" and choose God . . . is an illusion--a self delusion. You can just look at it and see that virtually everything that you "have" as a capacity or ability or inclination . . . to be just that little bit more "spiritual" such that you chose God . . . HAS ALL come from something or someone else, whether through inherited genetics or favorable circumstances.

Now, you might argue, "no, it is because I studied and pondered and analyzed things that I figured it out!"

And I say, can you not see that your very ABILITY to study, ponder, analyze and figure things out comes from the kind of intellect and "heart" you happened to inherit?

But--and this is what makes me uneasy, like the Romist arguing for the supremacy of tradition over scripture--the "free will" advocate will vociferously contend that it was THEIR will, THEIR choosing, THEIR action and energy etc., that won the day!

And I sit and wonder . . . why . . . why . . . does a person fight--FIGHT!--so hard for the idea that man's free will . . . is what determines the Book of Life in the end . . . NOT God's will. . . .

If the question and evidence is murky (which I suggest it is not once you seriously study it out) I am still going to side with GOD every time! There can be NOTHING for me to boast of in it! Not a shred. Not even a tiny bit--this "I chose". . . .